Aiming to provide technical and operational skills to potential entrepreneurs interested in setting processing units, Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering & Technology (CIPHET) here will establish a Business Planning and Development (BPD) Unit under World Bank-funded National
Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP).

CIPHET is a part of the Network of Indian Agri-business Incubators (NIABI) and is among the 12 Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) institutes across the country selected for this purpose.

SN Jha, acting director, CIPHET, said the BPD Unit would help potential entrepreneurs establish businesses with all necessary resources that the start-up needed to evolve and grow as a mature business.

"This would include necessary infrastructure support, technology, prototype development support, research assistance, help in managerial support, business consulting assistance and detailed project reports, etc.," he added.

The objective of a BPD unit is to minimise risk of budding entrepreneurs by providing them incubation facilities at the institute.

"For this the incubatee should obtain membership of the incubator. Few selected members can start business utilising CIPHET facilities under the guidance of technical experts, supported by a group of managers" said Prasoon Verma, principal investigator of BPD unit at CIPHET.

Normally it takes three to four years to incubate an entrepreneur, but in food processing sector this time can be as short as six months. Initially, the project is approved up to March 2014, but is likely to be extended for further five years based on performance.